THE Democratic Alliance has cast more doubt on former defence minister Lindiwe Sisulu over her alleged abuse of the defence force's VIP jets during her tenure, by charging that she was now contradicting herself.
This comes just a day after Sisulu did some damage control and chastised her predecessor Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula for her "misleading" information which suggested Sisulu made 203 flights on the defence force's ultra-luxury Gulf-stream Jets. For 69 of these flights she was allegedly not even on board.
The flights, between Pretoria and Cape Town, are said to have cost more than R200000 each .
On Saturday, Sisulu, who is now public service minister, denied this as "false and misleading". She claimed that she only made 35 official trips on the aircraft, which is operated by the SA Reserve Force Squadron.
Her spokesman Ndivuwo Mabaya said Sisulu had written to Mapisa-Nqakula, requesting that the parliamentary reply which revealed this information be withdrawn and corrected. He said the information submitted "misled Parliament and the nation".
He said there must be some confusion as it was almost impossible for anyone to make so many trips.
"It means you are sleeping in the plane," he said.
But DA spokesman on defence David Maynier threw another gauntlet at Sisulu, pointing to aprevious parliamentary reply which contradicts this.
In her response, Sisulu said between 2009 and 2012 she undertook 79 flights, said Maynier.
"The minister is clearly trying to use what amounts to a political smoke grenade to obscure the truth ..."
- Sowetan
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